Jungle Book: Alive With Magic Opens to Mixed Reviews

So the big nighttime spectacular for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a park that until now has never been open at night, debuted this past week. Jungle Book: Alive With Magic shows off the new Jungle Book movie on the lake near Everest in Animal Kingdom. Now, this is not Rivers of Light that was first announced to be the show in Animal Kingdom. Jungle Book: Alive With Magic is here for a limited time and I would think of it has a precursor to the more permanent Rivers of Light. Hit the jump to hear some reactions of the new show.

I’m sure if you’re a frequent reader of Behind Magic you’ll know that Animal Kingdom isn’t exactly at the top of my list. If I were to rank the park it would be 4th in Walt Disney World. In fact, I didn’t even stop by during my last trip. It’s definitely a different kind of park and it seems to have a love it or hate it fan base. I haven’t had a chance to experience the park at night yet. From what I’m seeing everyone is in love with Animal Kingdom at night. The Tree of Life projection show is a hit and is definitely something I would love to see. Jungle Book: Alive With Magic is getting a different sort of reaction however.

In all honesty, this show just doesn’t look interesting to me. Even though I haven’t seen it in person I’m inclined to agree with @thetimtracker that the water screen just doesn’t look good. I’m surprised Disney let the water intersect in the middle there and didn’t come up with a way to fix that and make it look a bit more seamless.

Secondly, it doesn’t feel like a Disney show to me. I’m not saying that every show must include Mickey or the other members of the Fab Five. Like I said, Animal Kingdom is a different park and the show does feel to fit in with the other shows or events that guests experience while walking around the park during the day. Would this show be enough to captivate your children for the approximately 25 minute run time? I doubt it. Still, I’d like to see this show eventually just not with the high crowds that come with anything new at Disney.

Thoughts?

What do you think of Jungle Book: Alive With Magic? Have you had the opportunity to see the show or any of the other new nighttime events at Animal Kingdom? Leave your comments below or as always, feel free to reach out on Twitter or Facebook!